I write to thank and praise Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree for her hard work in Congress to protect Maine from tar sands oil. Along with Rep. Peter Walsh of Vermont, Rep. Pingree has introduced an amendment to a bad bill to ensure that a federal review would still be required should the Portland-to-Montreal pipeline be reversed to carry tar sands oil.

Right now, the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., is considering H.R. 3301, which would exempt from federal review all modification to cross-border pipelines, like PMPL, without regard to potential environmental, health or safety implications. Under H.R. 3301, a decision to reverse the flow of the Portland-to-Montreal pipeline would be exempt from any federal review, and that’s just wrong. The Pingree/Welsh amendment ensures that major pipeline modifications remain subject to a federal review, as they are today.

Using the Northeast as a throughway for tar sands oil raises environmental, health and safety questions that should be carefully considered. A tar sands spill in northern New England would wreak havoc on our environment and jeopardize the health and safety of nearby residents.

If the Portland-Montreal Pipe Line Co. wants to reverse the flow of their pipeline to carry Canadian tar sands oil through Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine for export, the project should be subject to a federal environmental review, as they are today.

I thank Rep. Pingree for co-sponsoring this amendment as well as Rep. Mike Michaud for his support of the amendment.

John Howe

Waterford